Across the Southwest
Across the Southwest
Across the Southwest
Across the Southwest
Across the Southwest

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Desert Bighorn – Curecanti Recreation Area

Desert Bighorn. Curecanti National Recreation Area near Gunnison, Colorado. Copyright Adam Schallau, All Rights Reserved.

This big guy was definitely aware of me and actually seemed very willing to strike a pose. This photo has been sitting in my archives since last September and I finally got around to working on it this morning. It’s always a wonderful experience to see a magnificent creature like this in the wild, photographing it is a nice bonus!

~Tech details~
Camera Canon EOS 50D
Lens: Canon EF300mm f/4L IS USM lens
Exposure:  1/500 second, f/6.3 and ISO 320
Filters: none

Notes: Processed in Adobe Lightroom

Mar 12, 2010 | Categories: Colorado, Wildlife | Leave A Comment »

A Winter Morning in the Forest

A winter morning at Grand Canyon National Park. The canyon was completely socked-in so I took a stroll through the forest. (more…)

Mar 09, 2010 | Categories: Arizona, Grand Canyon National Park, National Park, Winter | 4 Comments »

A visit to Chaco Canyon

A place far from the modern, civilized, world. A place of extremes with brutally frigid winters and scorching hot summers. A place that was once inhabited by the Ancestral Puebloans and was perhaps the trade and spiritual center of their world. A place called Chaco. (more…)

Mar 07, 2010 | Categories: Anasazi, Ancestral Puebloan, Architecture, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Native American, New Mexico | 2 Comments »

Ice Fishing Article in New Mexico Magazine

I’m very excited to share with you the completed product of the first magazine assignment that I shot. The January 2010 issue of New Mexico Magazine features an article titled ‘Ice Breakers’ by Arnold Vigil with the photos shot by yours truly.

Most people know New Mexico for it’s beautiful deserts and canyons as well as it’s tremendous Spanish and Native American cultural sites. But what a lot of people don’t know is that we also have beautiful mountains and high-altitude lakes. The mountains between Taos and Angel Fire, the Sangre de Cristo Range, have peaks reaching to over 13,000 feet above sea-level with many lakes scattered amongst them. The largest lake in the range is 2,400 acre Eagle Nest Lake. (more…)

Jan 12, 2010 | Categories: New Mexico, Seasons, Winter | 4 Comments »

Cypress on the Guadalupe

Sally and I made a trip to Texas over the Thanksgiving holiday to visit family in the San Antonio area. While we were there, we had an opportunity to spend some time exploring the Guadalupe River near the town of Comfort. I love the Guadalupe and have canoed it many times from Comfort to Guadalupe River State Park, and my great grandparents had a home on it near New Braunfels at one time.One of my favorite subjects to photograph are the cypress trees that line the banks of the river such as this example at James Kiehl River Bend Park.

James Kiehl River Bend Park is a new park dedicated in memory of United States Army Specialist James H. Kiehl from Comfort, Texas. Spc. Kiehl was killed in action on March 23rd, 2003 after his convoy was ambushed in Iraq. He was assigned to the 507th Maintenance Company, Fort Bliss, Texas.

~Tech details~
Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens
Exposure:  1/2 second, f/16 and ISO 50
Filters: Hoya HD Circular Polarizer

Notes: Processed in Adobe Lightroom

Dec 05, 2009 | Categories: Guadalupe River | 4 Comments »

Thank you veterans

It’s a bit late in the day, but I’d like to take a minute to thank all veterans for your service to our country and for the sacrifice that you and your families have made. I’d like to extend an extra special thanks to my granddad who served his country in World War II as an U.S. Army paratrooper, was a P.O.W.  and went onto retire from the United States Air Force. After his time in the military he continued to serve those in uniform and their families as a Civil Service employee working for the National Cemeteries.

In the photo below, General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the Day. ‘Full victory-nothing else’ to paratroopers in England on the eve of D-Day. My granddad is in this iconic photo.

Nov 11, 2009 | Categories: News | 5 Comments »

A Cold Morning at the Gorge in Taos

Holy smokes was it cold this past Friday! I got up at sunrise to photograph the Rio Grande Gorge in early morning light with a fresh snow covering the rocks. As I drove out of town I noticed that bank sign was reading 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and the coldest part of the morning was yet to come. What a lot of people don’t realize is that Taos can get cold…very cold. To put it bluntly, we got down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind started to blow. Ugh! Enough whining from me, here the photo:

~Tech details~
Camera & Lens: Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens
Exposure:  20 seconds, f/11 and ISO 100 ( for the canyon, see notes below)
Filters: Hoya HD Circular Polarizer
Notes: I manually blended two exposures, one for the gorge and another for the sky to handle the dynamic range in this image. It was simply too cold to try to hand-hold my Singh-Ray graduated  neutral density filter in front of the lens.

Nov 01, 2009 | Categories: Environment, Landscapes, New Mexico, Southwest States, Winter | 4 Comments »

Ute Mountain surrounded by fog

Ute Mountain surrounded by fog

Ute Mountain surrounded by fog

On a recent trip to Colorado to photograph fall color I got stuck in New Mexico. It wasn’t because of car trouble or work obligations, it was because we had some of the most amazing fog I’ve ever seen in the desert. It’s important to understand that fog is not exactly a common occurrence in the high, dry desert of northern New Mexico. So when my wife and I finally broke into the clear and could see Ute Mountain apparently floating on a blanket of fog, I had to stop and shoot and shoot and shoot…until I had over 100 photos of this rare scene in front of us.

~Tech details~
Camera & Lens: Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens
Exposure:  1/125 seconds, f/11 and ISO 100
Filters: Hoya HD Circular Polarizer

Oct 27, 2009 | Categories: Environment, Landscapes, New Mexico, Southwest States | 4 Comments »

Cumbres & Toltec Railroad – An Early Morning

~Engine 484 of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad prepares to leave the station in Antonito, Colorado on a cool September morning.

This was a photo of opportunity. I was on my way to Crested Butte to photograph fall color and had nothing but fall color on the brain. It felt a bit ironic to photograph this magnificent piece of western history, and in color no-less, when golden aspens were only a couple hours away.

~Tech details~
Camera & Lens: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens
Exposure:  1/320 second, f/11 and ISO 400
Filters: Hoya HD Circular Polarizer
Notes: hand-held

Oct 11, 2009 | Categories: Colorado, Southwest States, Travel | 3 Comments »

Soda…I gave it up

Exactly one year ago today, I gave up soda. I don’t smoke, drink (alcoholic beverages), or do drugs, but I had a serious soda habit. Near the end I was drinking a 32 or 44 ounce fountain drink at lunch, a 20 ounce drink at dinner and a couple 12 ounce cans in the evening. Yuck! I lived in a perpetual state of feeling like crap.

You might ask, what made me stop? Two things. The first was that I had just been selected to be an Artist-in-Residence at Grand Canyon National Park and I wanted to be in better shape so that I could spend more time hiking the canyon. The second, and most important reason was my wife, Sally.

It was tough to give up, but I sure do feel better for doing it and I’ve saved a ton of money to boot!

Oct 10, 2009 | Categories: Artist-in-Residence Grand Canyon, News | 10 Comments »